Golf Plus.

Building A Solid Foundation

Woods' Work Has A Local Connection

Never did Paul Fregia imagine when he met Tiger Woods five years ago that he would become glued to the phone, trying in vain to answer 70 calls a day because of Woods.

Never in his wildest dreams did Fregia believe he would wind up working full time for the then-16-year-old Woods, who could hit a golf ball three miles.

And never, ever did Fregia envision himself intimately involved in the biggest story in sports, linked to potentially the greatest golfer in history.

The only thing Fregia knew then was that an immensely talented kid had crossed his path in life, and Fregia couldn't just let him go by.

"You can't be critical of anyone without looking at yourself first," Fregia says. "You have to say what could you have done? I knew that Tiger Woods at age 16 passed my way. My response was, what can I do?"

Fregia then smiles, and sighs. "I did not know it would turn out like this."

Fregia is Chicago's connection to Woods. In January, he became the executive director of the Tiger Woods Foundation; Earl Woods is president.

The foundation has lofty goals that go beyond golf, but for now it is one of the smaller things associated with Woods.

Fregia, 38 and with a background as an engineer and businessman, is operating the foundation out of his South Side home. Greg Marshall of Austin, Texas, is arranging Woods' clinics around the country. Fregia doesn't have any support staff yet.

Earl has an office in Orange County, Calif., and Fregia might eventually move out there. Currently he is enjoying the wonders of the fax machine.

Since Woods' win in the Masters, Fregia's fax has been maxed.

"Things are happening at a faster pace than the infrastructure can support," he says.

Fregia unknowingly hooked onto this lightning bolt when he first encountered the Woods family at a junior event in Chicago. He later played with Tiger and Earl at a Palos Hills course.

"After he drove over a par 4, I had respect for his length," Fregia recalls.

Fregia knew of Woods' reputation, and he also had heard of the obstables Earl had encountered. It's expensive traveling around the country with a prodigy.

"I sought him out," Fregia says. "I thought the African-American community should do more to help them. I vowed to try to raise money and do anything possible."

Fregia helped line up Earl with a book deal in addition to other endeavors. The book, "Training a Tiger," came out last week, and Earl gives Fregia a special acknowledgment.

"Without you, my man, (the project) would not have been completed," Earl writes.

"It started out that I was helping him with their business dealings," Fregia says. "But it has developed into a great friendship."

And now, they hope, a worthy foundation. Long before Woods won any green jackets, he talked of forming a foundation that would allow him to give back to the game.

"I'm in a position where I could help kids get involved in the game," Woods says. "All these years kids are taught to love certain sports in America. I'm saying, `Hey, there's another sport out there. It's called golf. I want you to know about it.' "

Woods could not have come along at a better time for those involved in minority golf. Bill Dickey, interim president of the National Minority Golf Association, has been working 15 years trying to drum up interest.

"What's important is that he realizes he's a role model and wants to do something for the kids," Dickey says. "It's great for someone his age to say this is what I want to do. Some athletes never do that."

Woods' foundation also has been a boon for the Chicago Public Schools, which are aggressively trying to develop a junior golf program.

"It helps having the executive director in Chicago," says Mark Lowry, who is overseeing the program. "Paul has been very helpful. With us being new and them being new, we don't want to bump heads. There's room for both and a need for both."

Initially, the foundation's main presence will be at clinics. Woods has six scheduled throughout the country, including a June 30 date in Chicago, the site to be determined.

The idea is to create interest in golf, to introduce diversity to the game and then have it sustained. Fregia calls Woods "a point on the arrow," not a means to an end.

"We know the clinics are a flash in the pan," Fregia says. "We're stirring up the ants. That's what we do. What's important is what's kept in the community."

The clinics, though, are only a small component of the bigger vision. Woods is bankrolling the foundation for now, but Fregia says there will be a fundraising effort. With the glare coming from Woods' star, the foundation shouldn't have much trouble attracting corporations and other major contributors.

The idea, Fregia says, is to set up scholarship programs and internship opportunities. The foundation wants to introduce youngsters not only to the game of golf, but to the business of golf and the possibility of pursuing careers in it.

As Lowry says, "There's a much better chance of seeing another (course architect) Pete Dye than a Tiger Woods."